• Wave Four – Full Internal Connection Funding at 90% Level
• Pink Postcards (continued)

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of August 27, 2001, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the “What’s New!” section of the SLD’s Web site . Additional and archived information appears elsewhere on this Web site.

Wave Four – Full Internal Connection Funding at 90% Level

Wave Four of FCDLs for PY4 will be mailed on Tuesday, September 4. The wave includes over 2,200 letters representing awards of $400.5 million. On a cumulative basis, PY4 funding is now $1.1 billion, roughly half the expected total.

The big news in Wave Four is that the SLD has now determined that it can fully fund internal connections for applicants at the 90% discount level. Indeed, it appears that the large majority of the funding awards in this wave are for internal connections, many of which had been listed “As Yet Unfunded” in the three earlier waves of FCDLs. The possibility of internal connection funding for applicants in the 85-89% discount range cannot yet be determined.

Pink Postcards (continued)

Last week’s News noted that a number of PY4 applicants had recently received pink postcards from the SLD advising them that their Form 471 signed certifications and/or attachments had not been received (or had been postmarked too late). In an unexpectedly high number of cases, affected applicants were complaining that their certifications and attachments had, in fact, been submitted on a timely basis and that they had documentation to prove it.

The SLD has now determined that some of the problems were of their own making. In particular, it appears that some paperwork, involving multiple applications mailed in a single envelope, may have been associated with the wrong application during the SLD’s microfiche process. The SLD is currently researching the scope of the problem and is reviewing all applications for which they sent pink postcards.

Applicants, whose applications were erroneously rejected, should appeal rather than passively wait for the SLD to complete their review. The appeals need not be detailed, but they must be filed IMMEDIATELY. Most of the pink postcards were mailed on August 6, so appeals must reach the SLD by Wednesday, September 5, to meet the 30-day appeal deadline. The few applicants, who have already appealed and whose appeals were denied before the SLD found the problem, are advised to re-appeal to the FCC.

Instructions for appealing a decision can be found on the SLD Web site or on this Web site.

The SLD’s problem in this situation highlights the risk of mailing multiple applications (or, to a lesser extent, any E-rate forms) in a single envelope. Here are a few suggestions:

• To be absolutely safe, mail each application in a separate envelope.
  
  
• Never send two types of forms in the same envelope (e.g. a Form 500 and a Form 486).
  
  
• If you must mail multiple forms together, carefully separate the items and include a cover sheet explicitly listing and identifying each.
  
  
• Always document your mailings using “Return Receipt Requested” or an express overnight delivery service (they provide a tracking receipt). Indicate your form identifier somewhere on the receipt (e.g., a FedEx slip includes space for “Your Internal Billing Reference”).